


Four pictures worth one thousand two-hundred and eighty two words

by PawsitivelyMiraculous



Series: Sara's gift fics [3]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Maribat - Fandom, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Badass Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Jason Todd is Bad at Feelings, Jason is a Dork, Jasonette, MariBat, One Shot, valentine's drabble exchange 2k21
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-17 02:47:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29464494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PawsitivelyMiraculous/pseuds/PawsitivelyMiraculous
Summary: Marinette looked at the photo strip of paper in her hand, which had four pictures in it, and smiled. Because if one picture alone was a thousand words. Then those four were a story.One with the most unexpected beginning. Where she found the love of her life at probably her lowest point.Being the guardian of the miraculous while still going out as ladybug had been stressful enough but when the end of high school began to approach, Marinette realized that she couldn't handle it all.People were expecting her to make decisions that would define the rest of her life while Marinette longed for the days when she didn't have the weight of the world on her shoulders.Marinette felt lost, because she needed to figure out what she wanted to do with her life, alone.~~~AKA: Jason and Marinette are best friends and Jason can't handle it when he realizes that he fell in love with his best friend.
Relationships: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Jason Todd
Series: Sara's gift fics [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2164206
Comments: 6
Kudos: 110





	Four pictures worth one thousand two-hundred and eighty two words

**Author's Note:**

  * For [YukinaMika](https://archiveofourown.org/users/YukinaMika/gifts).



> Heyy so this is a Valentine's drabble exchange fic. I hope yall like it :) 
> 
> I will be posting art for this on my tumblr (@pawsitivelymiraculous) soon.

Marinette looked at the photo strip of paper in her hand, which had four pictures in it, and smiled. Because if one picture alone was a thousand words. Then those four were a story. 

One with the most unexpected beginning. Where she found the love of her life at probably her lowest point. 

Being the guardian of the miraculous while still going out as ladybug had been stressful enough but when the end of high school began to approach, Marinette realized that she couldn't handle it all.

People were expecting her to make decisions that would define the rest of her life while Marinette longed for the days when she didn't have the weight of the world on her shoulders. 

Marinette felt lost, because she needed to figure out what she wanted to do with her life, alone.

And then she found him. 

Jason Todd. Who looked a lot more lost than she did. Who's past had been so dark that Marinette could feel the bad luck and misfortune radiating from him. But within all of that she found beauty, a soul that had been through a lot but still cared. 

That's when she found her best friend. The destruction to her creation. They both helped each other and Marinette got to see as the light seeped back into Jason's eyes. The clouds cleared and the real Jason Todd shined through.

Likewise, she had found a balance between her life, a way to achieve her dreams, and her keep responsibilities as guardian.

Jason helped her a lot. He took the Chat noir miraculous after Adrien left to live in London when he was accepted to go to college there. And fought by her side. 

The only downside to it all was everyone thinking that they were dating. Not because she didn't like Jason. She did. A lot. But Jason had been through so much that she didn't think it was the right time. So every time one of her friends teased her about how they were basically an old married couple Marinette felt a pang of sorrow knowing that she had once again fallen for a guy who didn't love her back, romantically at least.

It hurt a lot. The years passed and they were still there for one another. But Marinette had to suffer through seeing Jason with random girls. "No commitment" he would say but that didn't lessen the sting.

But Marinette had his friendship, and that was something she treasured. And that she was not going to lose for anything in the world.

But then Jason started to become distant. Before, he basically lived at her house. Now he barely visited. Every time she called him to hang out, he came up with an excuse for why he couldn't. She was losing her best friend and didn't know why.

Had she done something? Did he go back to Gotham without telling her? Both of these options terrified her. 

Then after a couple of weeks Marinette decided that enough was enough. She was going to go to Jason's apartment and lure him out to go to a carnival. And god forbid he refused because she was going to drag him there kicking and screaming if necessary.

She was going to get her best friend back.

~♡~♡~♡~

Jason was an idiot. There was no question about it. He was an idiot and Marinette was going to kill him for good this time.

And he deserved it because he had fallen for his best friend.

He couldn't handle it. Every time he saw her he wanted to just look into those beautiful blue eyes and kiss her.

He wanted to kiss her forever, and then marry her and- okay he was really getting carried away.

But since he couldn't do that, Jason avoided her. Which was really stupid because it was probably driving Marinette insane. And that was never good.

Why was he such a… a mess? He wanted to kill Bruce, but couldn't. He left Gotham And wandered aimlessly around the world before crashing into Paris and meeting the most amazing girl in the world. She took him in, cleaned his wounds both literally and metaphorically. And now he was almost purposefully hurting said girl because he was a  _ coward _ .

Jason wondered just how angry and hurt Mari was at the moment. This was answered a couple of days later when there was a knock on his door.

When he opened it he saw her, Marinette in all her glory looking downright  _ pissed.  _ She examined him, from head to toe, with narrowed eyes. And when she concluded that he looked unharmed she glared at him.

"So he lives." She remarked sarcastically.

"Oh, hey Pixie. What's up?" He said nervously. If looks could kill, he'd be dead and nothing would be able to bring him back.

He really needed to get his act together.

"Well you barely talk to me anymore so I came to find your corpse."  _ Ouch  _ "But since you're still here then you're coming with me to the carnival." Her tone made it clear it was not up to discussion.

He tried to refuse anyway. "Actually, Mari. I'm busy right now but maybe next time?"

"No"

"Um what?"

"I didn't ask you to come, I said you're coming with me. So get your keys and let's go."

Needless to say, Jason did as he was told. Pissed off Mari was terrifying.

~♡~♡~♡~

Walking around the carnival was awkward to say the least. Jason didn't talk, and didn't really do much except jump every time they accidentally made contact.

This was very out of character.  _ Her _ dork would joke about how rigged the games were. Then he would spend hours proving that he could beat them all anyway while spending all his money. Her Jason would laugh, and have fun with her, not stare into the distance while looking like he wished he was miles aways from her.

Marinette's patience was running thin. And when they were in line for the photobooth she finally snapped.

"What the hell is wrong with  _ you _ ?"

Jason looked at like a deer caught in headlights. "Uh, I don't know what you mean."

Marinette fumed "Jason Peter Todd you know exactly what I'm talking about! You've been ignoring me, and acting all strange. " At this point her anger blended with hurt when her voice cracked as she said. "What did I do to you?" 

Seeing Marinette's eyes shine with unshed tears broke Jason. "I think I'm in love with you!" He blurted. "Can't you understand? I'm in love with you, and I'm  _ terrified _ ."

Marinette looked at him in confusion. His words barely registered in her head when she looked at his eyes. They looked so confused, but at the same time hopeful and filled with love. Before she knew what was happening, she was moving closer, and so was he. They were millimeters apart when-

"Are you going inside or not?" A man who was behind them in line asked, tapping his foot impatiently. His daughter looked up at him in confusion.

Jason's eyes flashed dangerously, so Marinette grabbed him and pushed him into the booth before he could kill the guy. 

Once inside they sat awkwardly. Their moment was interrupted. Should they continue? Should she take initiative? They both seemed to be at loss on what to do.

Then a click and a flash interrupted their thoughts. Marinette looked at the camera, startled. Then she looked at Jason, who had been looking at her intensely. When their eyes met, all of Marinette's worries vanished. She grabbed Jason by the collar and their lips crashed together into a deep and passionate kiss as the camera clicked away.


End file.
